Donehogawa Utonagan

27/09/2025

26/09/2025

DISTRACTED DOG WALKERS

The distracted dog walker is commonly seen chatting on their cell phone, wearing headphones or socializing with other people while oblivious to what their dog is doing, how their dog is feeling or what is going on in the environment.

This may not sound like a problem, but it is something that many of us have a problem with, even more so if we have a reactive, sensitive dog.

I always compare walking a dog to driving a car. It’s not so much about our driving skills, but having to constantly be aware of the driving skills of others – trying to predict what they will do, which rules of the road they will ignore and how distracted they are. This is especially true in the country I live in, where driving can be a really stressful experience.

I understand that we often need to multi task – there simply doesn’t seem to be enough time in our day to accomplish everything we need to, but walking our dogs should not be one of these times.

Some may say – “but my dog is really friendly, well socialized, gets on well with everyone, is well trained, knows this environment well etc. and I hear that. But another dog might not be – maybe they need space, are reactive, sensitive, selectively social, have health issues, might be terrified of another dog racing straight towards them chasing a ball thrown from a ball launcher etc.

If distracted dog walkers have no regard for other dogs or other people, they should at least have regard for their own dogs.

Walking your dog should be a time of bonding, of connecting, of seeing the environment through the eyes of your dog, of reinforcing and rewarding wanted behaviours, of keeping them safe and protected.

Our dogs need us to be focused, to pay attention, to be aware and attentive. Our dogs depend on us to advocate for them.

24/09/2025

16/09/2025

DO YOU HAVE A HSD? - A highly sensitive dog

Just like people, some dogs are just different. It’s estimated that around 15 to 20% of us are a HSP (highly sensitive person) and around 1 in 6 dogs are HSD (highly sensitive dogs).

It’s not a disorder or a fault or a problem that needs to be fixed, but part of our genetic makeup, personality or character.

If you are a HSP, it will probably be easier to recognise and understand your dog’s personality.

Although we can improve sensitivity through careful controlled exposure, counter conditioning or desensitisation, we cannot change something that is part of who we or they are.

One of my dogs is highly sensitive. Before I knew anything about dog behaviour, I really struggled to understand why she behaved the way she did and tried really hard to change her. Many years ago, she was assessed by a “behaviourist”’, who concluded that she was just really odd and could give me no answers.

I understood “odd”, because I too could be considered odd and I now recognise myself as a HSP. This understanding and acceptance was a revelation in the way that I saw both myself and my dog.

Although being highly sensitive can be challenging, it does have advantages.

The HSD often develops strong connections and bonds and can be incredibly emotionally supportive to us.

Training is often easier because the HSD is far more intuitive and perceptive, noticing visual, auditory or environmental cues more easily.

Positive reinforcement, praise and connection may be even more valued by the HSD.

Let’s be more sensitive to the needs of sensitive dogs, accept them for who they are and stop trying to change them.

For more information on this topic, here is a link to a book on this topic by Dr Christine King - The Highly Sensitive Dog - explains the science of sensory-processing sensitivity, then offers some practical strategies that make life easier for these wonderful dogs and for ourselves in return.

Highly Sensitive Dog: Making Life Easier for These Wonderful dogs
https://www.amazon.com/Highly-Sensitive-Dog-making-wonderful/dp/B0F947Z4WN

16/09/2025

Floyd done me proud again this weekend!

1st place for hedge jump and
2nd places in other events like long jump.

What a boy 🧡

14/09/2025

Testing for hidden toxins, stress & nutritional imbalances🧪🐶🐱

In 564 dogs tested, 94% had low calcium and magnesium with high sodium–potassium imbalance…a pattern linked to inflammation, anxiety and aggression, nervous system dysfunction and stress. It’s not just mineral levels, but ratios like Na/K and Ca/Mg that reveal deeper issues long before symptoms appear.

Ever wonder how mineral levels impact your pet's inflammation, energy, and stress? Today at 12pm ET, we're discussing everything from macro- and micro-minerals to toxic metals, and we’ll explore how fur tissue mineral analysis may:

🔥 Reveal hidden inflammation triggers
☠️ Detect toxic metal buildup and nutrient deficiencies
🩺 Assess organ and glandular function

💬 Comment SCOOPERS and we’ll message you a link to join our Inside Scoop community, a Planet Paws monthly subscription group, where all live podcasts are available to watch at any time. Plus access over 300 expert interviews and ebook guides on pet health & longevity.

13/09/2025

Up at the DogRisk conference in Helsinki. God I love it up here. The talks are always top class. Loads to share in the coming days.

For now, heads up on beef prices - has anyone noticed the cost of beef-containing raw sneaking upwards? If you haven't yet, we will soon.

A friend in South Africa was saying they are being hit hard with foot and mouth. Beef isn't available so they're jumping to venison for their beef blends. I thought it was just them but rumour has it its hit the EU mainland hard too. Surely just a matter of time before it comes for UK/Irish cows. The net result is, rumour has it the major EU manufacturers are looking to us for beef. This will drive the prices north quick smart.

Cost aside, spare a thought for the millions of cows that are going to be sacrificed over the coming months. Not good.

I would expect the manufacturers of ultra-processed pet food to capitalise on this tragedy, telling everyone how F&M free their products are, but rest assured dogs and cats and largely humans are unaffected by foot and mouth (while extremely rare for humans, cases are limited to those handling the carcasses). Foot-and-mouth disease is caused by a picornavirus (aphthovirus) that infects cloven-hoofed animals (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats, deer). The aggressive culling measures are to protect the remaining healthy cow populations.

Probably won't stop them having a go mind, as they did during bird flu (which doesn't affect dogs or cats in any real way either, despite all the BS they tried to sell us all, repeatedly, still today in fact).

It seems bird flu was a lab leak, accidentally released AT THE SAME TIME from two labs, one in the Netherlands AND the US, just as Billy Gates predicted 2 years earlier. Bill and co have been funding gain-of-function research into bird flu since 2013. This is for our benefit of course, I would never suggest otherwise. They study the disease so they can develop vaccines, should an outbreak ever occur, to help us.

[If you're confused about bird flu still, check out my free video on drconorbrady .com. It's a juicy one.]

It so happens that the last foot and mouth epidemic (2007) was an accidental lab leak too, originating in Surrey, UK, that time.

I can't think of any other lab leaks right now but I'm sure there's more...

Actually, Lyme disease is so called because it popped up in the town of Lyme during the 1970s, for some reason. And before you say it, it had absolutely NOTHING to do with the military lab 8 miles up the road (Plum Island Animal Disease Centre), which was engineering ticks during the 1970s to use as bioweapons during the Cold War.

I really wish they would stop studying deadly viruses for the good of humanity and accidentally releasing them.

For the sake of all the cows that are about to be killed, and my bloody sanity, I really hope this foot and mouth epidemic is entirely natural.

08/09/2025

❤ HEART MURMURS EXPLAINED (AND IS ANYONE USING WEARABLES ?!) ❤

Had a lovely little client here (Cavapoo, 11yrs) who has a heart murmur and just received a mitral valve disease diagnosis, stage B2.

A heart murmur is an abnormal sound heard when listening to the heart via a stethoscope. Normal functioning hearts make that classic lub-dub sound (that's the sound of the valves in the heart closing as blood moves through the chambers).

A "murmur" is the word they use to describe a whooshing or swishing sound, caused by blood flow becoming turbulent instead of smooth (laminar).

The different grades are as follows:

Stage A is no biggie - it just means your dog is "at risk" (looking at you Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and Dachies) but no murmur or structural heart disease is yet present.

In Stage B, some murmur is present, but no clinical signs of heart failure is yet apparent.

B1: Murmur, but no heart enlargement.

B2: Murmur + echocardiographic or radiographic evidence of heart enlargement, but still no obvious outward symptoms of progression such as coughing, exercise intolerance, sometimes fainting.

In Stage C, the dog has developed clinical signs of heart failure (e.g. coughing, breathing difficulty, exercise intolerance) while stage D is said to be "end-stage disease". This is heart failure that is no longer responding well to treatment

So this little guy is Stage B2 and it's at this point vets consider starting drugs like Vetmedin as, studies show, it can significantly delay the onset of heart failure in B2 dogs. Good thing.

Its benefits include strengthening the heartbeat (by increasing the sensitivity of heart muscle fibres to calcium, I'm learning here, resulting in stronger contractions without significantly increasing oxygen demand, which is safer for the heart long-term). It also acts as a vasodilator (widens blood vessels).

Like all effective meds, I guess, there are a few downstream effects, and in this wee dog's case it's at least some digestive issues, very common they were told, but he's only a week in so the client was looking for options.

It was a short chat - I'm not a vet, so this end of things is beyond me. I directed her to my list of natural vets who can advise accordingly (www.drconorbrady .com/natural-vets).

But know there is a heap of bits that can be used here to help, top of the list being hawthorn.

Like VetMedin, hawthorn increase the efficiency of calcium handling in heart muscle cells, thereby improving contraction strength, only milder. It's also vasodilatory (enhancong nitric oxide release, which relaxes blood vessels and improves blood flow), anti-arrhythmic (potentially stabilising electrical activity in the heart, reducing ectopic beats) and is a potent antioxidant and anti-inflammatory, protecting cardiac tissue from oxidative stress, which is elevated in heart disease.

Serious win for hawthorn.

And haw is not alone in this regard. There is lots you can do in the herbal (and homoeopathic) department. For more options here, consider chatting to Rita Hogan via our new AI over on dcbholistic.com/ask-rita.

Then there are the usual heart-essential neutraceuticals that need to be ramped up - co-enzyme Q10, L-carnitine and taurine (which you can buy in supplement form or simply feed more heart meat - win for organotherapy, once again).

Again, this is not saying to avoid meds, far from it, but while other options exist, and side effects are already apparent, I'd be hoping to control the heart disease progression naturally, for as long as you can, saving the bigger guns for down the line.

Your natural vet will guide you.

The main thing I learned though, was that measuring heart murmurs is PRICEY. 💰💰💰

My client just paid £800 for the job and the (nervous) dog had to be kept in for the day (and sedated).

This needs to be done regularly to monitor disease progression.

I felt there had to be a better way.

There's lots of stuff folk can do at home, from measuring how many breaths the dog takes in a minute whlie asleep (should be under 30, anything over 30-35 is a warning, apparently) to picking up cool little blue tooth doggie stethoscopes that link to your phone (eg Stemoscope, around $99 USD).

Now, there are actual wearables hitting the market. Best so far, it seems, is the AliveCor Heart Monitor. Costing around £100 (found in Boots), these guys have been producing mobile ECG devices for humans for awhile now and for awhile there it looked like they were moving into the pet space.

It claims to attach to an iPhone, recording clinical-quality single-channel ECGs for pets. It allows heart rhythm monitoring at home, and you can share PDF results with your vet.

Pretty cool, it's just that I can no longer find them for sale.

Is anyone out there using such a device on their pet to keep an eye on things?!

[For AWESOME info on MVD in dogs check out the Cavalier King Charles queen Dr Judy over at Dr. Judy Morgan's Naturally Healthy Pets]